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Tuesday, 31 March 2015

After enjoying myself so much last year making a 1940s blouse for the Sew for Victory Sew Along, I am now jumping into another vintage sewing challenge, Spring for Cotton. The rules are fairly simple - use a vintage pattern to make a garment in cotton, share photos on Flickr, and have the finished garment ready by 30th April.I have had a 1949 Lutterloh pattern book on my shelf for a couple of years now, and this challenge has galvanised me into action. It didn't take me long to decide on this blouse, then I watched this video.

Mr. Lutterloh makes it all look so easy. He also gives a couple of fleeting moments of comedy, which my husband and brother in law have enjoyed with me.After three evenings of work and running up a muslin, I now have my own pattern to make the blouse.

This cotton poplin print was stashed away in the cupboard. Today I have been Mrs. Mega-Meticulous and cut out the blouse, making sure the lines of tiny roses match for symmetry across both front and back. It took rather longer than ten minutes.To stay with the German theme, the plan is to make it on my 1937 Frister and Rossman transverse shuttle. It is a beautiful brute of a machine, weighing three quarters of a ton, so I have yet to haul it out of its cupboard. Sewing starts tomorrow.Linking up to Connie's blog Freemotion by the Riverfor Linky Tuesday

Sunday, 29 March 2015

I took this picture in a parish church in Herefordshire over a year ago, and only today have I worked out which gospel passage it illustrates - the calming of the storm, as recounted in the gospel of St. Matthew. The view of the town in the background, and the fact that I thought Jesus was standing on the shore, really threw me. We have had strong winds today, which must have helped the answer dawn on me.

Thursday, 26 March 2015

This is the sum total of my free motion quilting this week - one leaf and a few swirls. I am making version 2 of the red and cream crib quilt I made a couple of weeks ago, but this time in shades of pink.

The pink is in shades reminiscent of raspberry ice cream, and this print has little curled leaves similar to the swirls I like quilting to fill in empty space between stems. Before starting the free motion work, I quilted straight lines down the strip of squares to batten down the seam allowances, which have a habit of bumping up after quilting.

It has been a rather hectic week. This was the state of my sewing corner last Friday when the window fitters were at work, with dust sheets covering the book shelf on the right, and the 15K treadle on the left. All the hand machines are hiding behind the curtains beneath the counter, and when it came to cleaning up earlier this week, I ended up hauling them out to look them over. I took out my 1927 Singer 99K to test it for straight line quilting, and it passed with flying colours. Perhaps the pressure on the foot is adjusted to the ideal level, but for some reason none of the other machines do such a good job.

So after a very unquilty week, I am looking forward to seeing everyone else's projects.

Here goes for week 37...Many thanks to Quilt Musings, Maartje, Carole, Hilary, Katy, Julie, Myra, LeeAnna, Sophieand Andreefor linking up last time.If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar. .3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.So far quilters from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuationfor Needle and Thread Thursdayand Angie's blog A Quilting Reader's Gardenfor WIPs Be Goneand Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addictfor Whoop Whoop Friday.

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

This illustration is in another of my old books, Dressmaking and Needlework by Catherine A. Place, published in 1953. I bought it a few months ago, readily parting with a very small amount of cash when I saw how excellent the diagrams are, line drawings with red detail.It was only yesterday that I spotted these illustrations, showing the method of appliqué recommended for adding decoration to clothes. In brief, place the material to be applied on top of the background material, transfer the design onto the material (it doesn't say how), then stitch the two layers together, as shown in red above.

Once all the stitching is completed, trim away the excess from around the stitching.This all sounds strangely familiar. It must be about four years ago that I thought long and hard about how best to do appliqué using a straight stitch sewing machine, and came up with the method I dubbed Vintage Sewing Machine Appliqué. This is the first book that I have seen that shows a sew first, cut last method. I knew the end result had a vintage look to it. Having found these illustrations I feel somehow vindicated (the posh word for smug).Linking up to Connie's blog Freemotion by the Riverfor Linky Tuesday

Sunday, 22 March 2015

Taken at 9.30 in the morning on Friday from our attic window. We were treated to an 85 percent solar eclipse, with just some hazy cloud serving as a natural filter. And the house shook too while I was taking the pictures - the window fitters were bashing out the old window from the bathroom below me, and it took me a minute or two to work out that I should listen to the rhythm of their banging and wait until they stopped to avoid camera shake.It was tricky getting pictures of the sun without looking directly at it, just looking at the screen on the camera. Some shots came out dark and moody...

... some were thin and hazy.

Then I realised that the crescent shape was showing up beside the main glare of the sun...

... and I also managed to get pictures showing two crescents, which is slightly weird. I wish it were reflections in the clouds, but the mundane explanation is that it is the effect of taking pictures through a double glazed window. Update 24th March

Bob, my brother's brother-in-law, emailed this diagram to me today. Thank you Bob!Bob is in the USA and so missed this eclipse, and was slightly jealous when he saw my pictures.All I can say is hooray for hazy cloud and double glazing, which all combined to make a triple filter for the photos.Because I am a bit of a doughnut with the computer I couldn't transfer the image through the computer to the blog, I just took a photo of the computer screen, which explains the rather interesting tweedy texture to the diagram. Bob no doubt could whip up another diagram explaining how the effect comes about, and I could take a photo of that too and post it here. This post could end up like a hall of mirrors.

Thursday, 19 March 2015

Chaos reigns. Two young men have smashed out all our front windows, and tomorrow they will be doing the same in my sewing room. The 85 year old metal frames had to go, and we can now look forward to fewer draughts and less condensation. You never know, furry sewing machine handles might become a thing of the past. I will miss the history, though. I was always very proud of the fact that we lived in a house that still had the hooks for hanging up the blackout blinds.The only free motion quilting I have done this week was a panel of leaves and berries, which will be part of the free motion sampler quilt I was working on months ago. It was nice and easy to do, but I'm not convinced I picked the best colour thread. Errors of judgment are allowed on sampler quilts.

Here goes for week 36...Many thanks to Heulwen, Maartje, Alison, Hilary, Linda, Mary, Teresa, Carole, AngieandAndreefor linking up last time.If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar. .3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.So far quilters from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.Linking up to Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuationfor Needle and Thread Thursdayand Angie's blog A Quilting Reader's Gardenfor WIPs Be Gone and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addictfor Whoop Whoop Friday.

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

This illustration of cushions is taken from the latest addition to my bookshelf, Modern Needlecraft, edited by Davide C. Minter. This book is most definitely a gem, a 250 page illustrated encyclopaedia covering embroidery,crochet, knitting,millinery, handbags, dressmaking and household furnishings.

My copy is a 1951 reprint, although the book was first published in 1931. Evidently too much had happened in the intervening years for anyone to care about the fashions in the illustrations being way out of date. If anything, I think it adds to the book's charm.

This slip pattern could be adapted for a slinky dress...

... and this little dress is timeless. Such a shame that the little girl has been given a cut-and-paste adult face. I must scour the rest of the book and see if I can find who it really belongs to.The book cost me less than I would spend on tea and cake in a cafe. If anyone wants to do an internet book search, they might just find themselves a copy. It would be money well spent.Linking up with Connie's blog Freemotion by the Riverfor Linky Tuesday

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Teresa of Third Floor Quilts left a comment a couple of weeks ago, saying "I am guessing that a cot quilt is what we would call a crib quilt", to which I replied yes, and two days later it dawned on me. I'm a bit slow sometimes when confronted with the obvious. Why not make a crib quilt? Smaller, quicker, and no need to buy anything, the stash is to hand.

So here it is, 25 x 26 inches, a little wider than it is long so baby can be tucked in down the sides in his crib or pram.

After all the riotous scrappiness of the cot quilts I have been making, I decided it was time for a little minimalism.

The joy with this quilt was being able to see what I was doing rather than being dazzled with lots of colours and prints Initially I was thinking of doing straight line quilting for the lines of squares, but after some fooling around getting a walking foot jammed over the needle clamp and giving up in disgust, I free motion quilted the squares with little leaves and curls. I thought this would leave the squares a bit bumpy, but once the broad bands of cream had been filled with serrated leaves the overall effect wasn't too bad at all.

For the quilting I used a variegated thread in pastel shades of pink, green and yellow, and of the four different red prints that I used for the squares, I used the one with the tiniest design for the binding.

The design of the backing fabric I find a bit puzzling. Why do some of the flowers look like boiled eggs, and why have others got eyes? Perhaps the baby will have big brothers and sisters who can provide a suitable answer. They can also have fun counting the squares...

... picking the strawberries...

... and hamming it up as Long John Silver - aaagh, the Black Spot!

This little quilt has been a joy to make. The 15K treadle is running beautifully smoothly after its little bit of attention last month, which made the quilting problem free. The piecing and binding were done on the Singer 128K, which, with its gorgeous red and gold decals, looked even prettier than ever while stitching all the red and cream.

I think I shall have to make some more.

Here goes for week 35...Many thanks to Quilt Musings, Alison, Gwyned, Angie, Jasmineand Heulwenfor linking up last time.If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar. .3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.So far quilters from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.Linking up to Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuationfor Needle and Thread Thursdayand Richard and Tanya Quiltsfor Link a Finish Fridayand Angie's blog A Quilting Reader's Gardenfor WIPs Be Goneand Michelle's Romantic Tanglefor Let's Make Baby Quiltsand Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addictfor Whoop Whoop Friday

Thursday, 5 March 2015

I shall do my best not to sound too cheesed off, but I am still in the grip of a ghastly lurg. It is turning out to be a two week special, so again this week's sewing has been a cot quilt. Not much thinking, just doing.I only had three strips left of the little rectangles which I have used in all my previous pink cot quilts. This time, for the strips in between, I included lots of fabrics with purple and mauve to give a slightly different emphasis for the pink. Combining purple and pink, for me, can sail dangerously close to the ick factor, but I think I managed to keep the whole colour scheme under control. The sensible navy blue in the binding certainly helped.

My mum made herself a dress in this floral cotton in the 1980s. When she died she left a very modest sized bag of scraps.

By contrast, my brother's mother in law left an immense stash of scraps, enough for a quilt and lots more. There was enough of this blue and white floral to make a tea cosy, and I have been eking out the last few scraps in the cot quilts.

This is (probably) the end of this Laura Ashley print from the 1970s.

And the joys of random juxtaposition have given this elephant a fetching purple Mohican headdress.

Yet again I have done swirls for the free motion quilting. More of the same. I am looking forward to feeling better and doing something more interesting.

Here goes for week 34...Many thanks to Quiltmusings, Gwyned, Hilary, Judy, Susan, Lyn, Linda, Angie, Carole, andTeresafor linking up last time.If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar. .3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.So far quilters from USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France and Macau have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.Linking up with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuationfor Needle and Thread Thursdayand Angie's blog A Quilting Reader's Gardenfor WIPs Be Goneand Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addictfor Whoop Whoop Fridayand Michelle's Romantic Tanglefor Let's Make Baby Quiltsand Richard and Tanya Quiltsfor Link a Finish Friday.

Sunday, 1 March 2015

Scotney Castle in Kent, where I took a day trip with my brother the week before last. The window in last Sunday's photo is at the top left.Welcome to Pople Backyard Farm and Loopy Modiste, the latest followers - thank you for joining!